2016 Top Stories

In April, five employees of the state agency that processes key federal benefits to the poor made explosive testimonies in court—that their bosses instructed them to doctor emergency food aid applications to hurt the very people they’re supposed to help. The following month, four more Human Services Department employees added their voices to the allegations. Then, three top state officials were called to the stand and pleaded the Fifth, refusing to answer nearly 100 total questions about their role in the scandal. Previously: Top ten stories of 2016: 10-6; #5: NM Dems buck national trend, retake House; #4: Demesia Padilla resigns; #3: AG clears final behavioral health providers; #2: State budget situation worsens

“In my opinion, we’re cheating those families,” Angela Dominguez, one of the HSD employees, said in her court testimony. The underlying question next became, why?

The state budget situation was the backdrop of so many other stories this year and will remain a large story that NM Political Report and others will continue to cover in 2017 and beyond. Due in large part to the state’s reliance on oil and gas revenues to fund the government, New Mexico earlier this year found itself facing a large budget deficit amid plummeting oil prices. The state constitution does not allow the state to run a deficit; every year, the Legislature must pass a balanced budget. Previously: Top ten stories of 2016: 10-6; #5: NM Dems buck national trend, retake House; #4: Demesia Padilla resigns; #3: AG clears final behavioral health providers

During the 30-day regular session, the state House passed a version of the budget worth $6.32 billion, which actually included $30 million in new money. But by the time the Senate began discussing the budget, the situation worsened and the state braced for a whopping $359 million less in revenue than projected.

Years after the state cut off Medicaid funding to 15 behavioral health providers, citing “credible allegations of fraud,” the Attorney General cleared all providers of the alleged fraud. AG Hector Balderas made finishing the investigation into the providers a key goal when he entered office in 2015. Previously: Top ten stories of 2016: 10-6; #5: NM Dems buck national trend, retake House; #4: Demesia Padilla resigns

In April, Balderas announced the investigation was complete, with no evidence of fraud in the final two companies. Balderas previously cleared ten providers in February, and had already cleared two others in 2015. The allegations of fraud came from a 2013 audit for the state Human Services Department by Boston-based Public Consulting Group.

A year and a half after a preliminary probe from the State Auditor’s office concluded that Demesia Padilla used her state position to benefit her former private client, the Taxation and Revenue Department secretary resigned from office this month after nearly six years on the job. The revelations of an ongoing investigation by Attorney General Hector Balderas revealed far more potential misconduct from Padilla. Previously: Top ten stories of 2016: 10-6; #5: NM Dems buck national trend, retake House

First, TRD employees interviewed corroborated previous reports and evidence that Padilla, as head of the department that taxes New Mexicans, did insert herself into the audit of a company she previously did accounting work for. But a search warrant affidavit filed by Attorney General Special Agent Ed Griego revealed that Padilla may have also embezzled money from the client, Harold’s Grading and Trucking—more than $25,000 in all. Padilla told investigators that this money, which was transferred directly to her personal banking account between 2011 and 2013, was owed to her by Harold’s Trucking from previous work.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

There was a time when wading waist-deep into the Rio Grande in the heat of the summer’s blistering solar rays was as common as finding a wild willow tree growing by the river. But as we observe this becoming a distant memory, a new reality is emerging. A farmer friend, on his way to the […]

The New Mexico Department of Health is placing political ideology above public health by refusing to recognize the reality that cannabis offers a viable alternative to opioids (“DOH: Reports on cannabis for opioid abuse are ‘poor in quality,’ May 20). This ‘Flat Earth’ position ignores a myriad of data generated from other states, as well […]

From the porch near the house, I see Papa in the distance, shovel on his shoulder, his outline as familiar as his presence. Egrets graze along the water that moves in and across the field, alfalfa plants brightening the morning with a welcoming green. The swallows — las golondrinas — fly down and across the water, grasping […]

New Mexico has a jobs problem. We have high crime. We’re ranked 49th in the country for child well-being, showing how much our kids suffer. Our home was just ranked the second most stressed state in the nation. These are tough issues, but there are solutions. Giving every kid the support and education they need […]

Our children need nature. To grow up healthy, kids need a clean, beautiful, and accessible outdoors where they can play and discover the amazing world around them. Spending time with family while connecting with nature brings tremendous health and educational benefits to children. Fortunately, New Mexico has numerous spectacular and historically and socially significant outdoor […]

Despite the rains that doused parts of New Mexico on Monday, the state officially entered into drought conditions on the Rio Grande when water levels in two key reservoirs dipped below a critical legal threshold.